Thursday, January 05, 2006

Wanted: An Interesting Life

Well, I seemed to have caught some kind of 24 hour virus. I started feeling sick yesterday morning, but it really didn't hit me until the afternoon when I had an argument with my lunch and my lunch won. Still despite my nausea, I still managed to write 11 pages on my YA in progress. I rock!

Can I tell you there is nothing more embarrassing than hurling in the bathroom at work? I just had visions of the other occupants in the stalls thinking I'd jumped on the bulimia train. I was so nauseous that all I couldn't even eat, so you know I had to be sick. The only thing that made me feel better was reading the new issue of In Touch magazine. Yeah, I know that I said I was giving up the tabloids in 2006, but this was an emergency. I just watched several hours of craptastic television, and then slept on my back, because my stomach was too tender.

Today, I'm feeling a little better, but I'm a little cautious about what I'm putting in my stomach. Anyway, I started my second book of 2006, Chloe does Yale. As anyone read this book? Apparently the woman who wrote it also wrote a sex column when she was at Yale, so the book is kind of a roman a clef. Or as Pam Anderson would say 'Roman who?'

So it got me thinking about all the books lately that have been inspired by their real lives. Think The Devil Wears Prada or the spate of books by bloggers from Washingtonienne and Wonkette. Not to mention two women who've written novels based on their lives as bartenders, and Rachel Pine who wrote the Twins of Tribeca based on he rexperiences at Miramax.

Not to mention the celebutantes like Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, and stars like Pam Anderson, Britney Spears, and Alicia Keys who've all published books recently. What's a struggling former actress/Executive Secretary/former SAT tutor to do?

I mean have I had an interesting enough life to write a book? Should I go out and rob a bank and then write about it? Attempt to climb Mount Everest? Well, I'm afraid of heights so that won't work. Perhaps head off to Alaska to find a man? I don't know. With everyone talking about high concept, I sometimes feel at a loss.

Yeah, I know some books just rest on the high concept and don't have the writing talent to back it up. But it still annoys me.

Oh, and Chloe Does Yale? I'm actually enjoying it. Although I don't think we had a sex column at Syracuse, and it was the 80's when people were still having casual sex.

1 comment:

Gabrielle said...

Glad you're feeling better! I had the same kind of thing last week, and it wasn't fun but you did much better by writing 11 pages. You do indeed rock!